After speaking with a number of businesses, I have often heard them quote that once the sale is made by a salesperson they never hear from that person again until it’s time for the next sale to be made. In some lower value sales this is generally expected, however, today in business, customers are measuring salespeople by how well they manage their relationships with their customer and that includes good follow up.

As a salesperson you have worked so hard creating this partnership with the customer and it has paid off. You have won the business. You have completed all the legal and contractual obligations and processed your internal paperwork.

But after the sale has been made, the hard work must also continue. Many sales people make the fundamental flaw of easing up. After their obligatory visits to see how things are going, they almost disengage from that customer and concentrate their efforts on getting more business elsewhere.

Remember why your customer buys. Apart from your solution meeting his needs, he is also buying into a relationship. He is buying you and all the qualities that you have exhibited. He trusts you and therefore the company you represent, to understand his needs and his business. Extra effort must be put in after the signing and the legalities are over.

This is the time for the implementation and installation. Many customers will go through various emotions at this stage. This is the time of reckoning for the decisions they have made. Some may be feeling anxious and others excitement. There is, therefore, a psychology that goes with this installation and implementation phase.

Picture yourself, for example. If you make the decision to join a gym, your levels of enthusiasm and excitement are fairly high at the early stage. But you must go through that pain of learning. In many instances this is an area where you want to see immediate results but in that early stage, you don’t. It is a time where you need to work hard but for minimum results. If you are not kept motivated, then your level of enthusiasm falls and that is why there is large fallout of membership at gyms. If however, you are one of those people who do continue, you will find that once your learning is completed and you have gained new habits, this gym work becomes effective and you start to see results a lot quicker.

Your customer is no different. The psychology behind the installation and implementation phase incorporates three levels. Those levels are

Acquisition Stage – this is where the customer views his purchase as a new toy. He plays with it, tries different things out and usually doesn’t put too much effort in, as it is a novelty at this stage. Because he is in this exploratory phase, he gets immediate results, even if they are small, because they are within his comfort zone. You must encourage this. But the second stage is the Learning Stage.

The Learning Stage – this is where things are different, he must go outside his comfort zone and put in a lot more effort to learn different styles, techniques, processes etc. And just like the gym, at this stage, he usually won’t see many results for the effort he is putting in. They expect immediate results, and yes, it may be frustrating for both of you. This stage is crucial. If the motivation dips as it sometimes does, some people find it easier to go back to the old way that they feel comfortable with and know works, and as a result, they may feel cheated.

At the Effectiveness Stage – this is where the customer has full understanding. Their learning has been completed and their results begin to show. Our job as salespeople is to get our customers to reach this stage as quickly as we can.

If we help our customers persist with this stage then their motivation and belief returns. If however, throughout the campaign the customers expectations have been set unrealistically then this motivation dip is more serious. This is where the salesperson may cop the brunt of the blame and the customer may begin to feel that they have made the wrong choice, which could impact on customer satisfaction levels.

It is up to us to help the customer be involved in the Implementation plan as much as possible in order for him to take some ownership. We must help them though. For us to ensure that this installation and implementation stage runs smoothly, then we are immediately setting ourselves up for future success.

This customer will feel validated in his purchase and he will act as a reference. It is a strategy, which may limit our competition, not just in this account, but other similar accounts. Don’t ruin the reputation you have built up during the preceding sales processes that secured your relationship. This stage is most important. Once you are well over the Implementation Stage, you must continue this relationship. It doesn’t mean that there is no competitive threat just because you were successful in securing this business.

“Never assume you are in total control. Complex organisations are in constant flux. Complacency inevitably leads to disaster.” Miller Heiman.

You still must ask questions out of interest and you must handle problems immediately. So continue to ask selling questions from time to time, because remember things change.

You must always treat old customers to a degree as if they were new. If tasks may seem mundane, repetitious or appear to not be taking you toward an instant sale – hang in there, because if you have the customer’s genuine interest at heart, you will win.

In the words of Bill Gates: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had another word for flipping burgers – they called it opportunity. Now go and find some burgers to flip!